Top technology trends in Education

The education sector continues to boost its technology investments to make learning more interactive, more effective and streamlined. Education technologies continue to evolve to provide more value to learning or students anywhere in the world.

As the education field continues embracing the power and promise of digital technology and learning, one thing for sure is that regardless of how exciting the new technology may be, the tool itself should always be secondary to the goal that the student, teacher or administrator wants to achieve or the problem they want to solve. Utilizing disruptive innovation to improve educational institutions, the most successful designers of education technology would keep the end in mind, instead of pushing tech innovations for technology’s sake.

Pressure continues to rise on education budgets all over the world. However, despite this fact, the education sector is continuing to boost its technology investment that’s related to learning. Some of the top technology trends in the field of education include the following:

1. Online corporate learning. The corporate e-learning market is expected to grow around thirteen percent every year until 2017. This is due to the growing number of companies that have realized that there is indeed great value in furthering the knowledge of their employees in cost-effective and flexible ways that are tailored to each and every needs of an individual. Opposite the academic MOOCs or Massive Open Online Courses which remain struggling to find the best path to a reliable revenue stream, businesses that are focused on corporate e-learning enables employees in each industry and at any experience level the power of customized training, 24 hours a day on any device. Unlike training that is classroom-based, learners get to rain on their own time with customized formats. Everyone could move at their own pace, learning what they should know as well as exploring their individual interests. While still a relatively young industry, corporate e-learning promises in delivering new teaching models and a future of exciting breakthroughs.

2. Alternative styles of learning. The days are gone when students have to rely on tutorials that are text-based or even video-base. Although those are effective still, new learning styles will continue to emerge, providing online learners more interactive experiences such as directly writing code in the browser, or accomplishing online challenges as part of the learning process. One example of this is Code School which offers a one-of-a-kind approach which relies on alternative learning style that is believed to be more engaging, fund and effective compared to plain videos. With this, users watch a short video, stop and practice what they’ve learned via a series of interactive coding and assessments all the browser before proceeding. As they progress, they earn points and badges which serve as guide for one’s learning and progress. Furthermore, there is a mobile application so users could watch and review videos anytime.

3. Online competency-based training. Online learning and competency-based training are nothing new. However, the combination of the two is making a revolutionary approach to education. Online competency-based training providers could cost-effectively combine learning modules into pathways which are adaptable and agile to the evolving labor market. They do so by breaking down learning not by course or even by subject matter, but through competencies, so releasing learning from the hindrances of traditional methods and institutions. The method helps students via targeted learning outcomes, portable skill sets and customized support that employers care. This trend is expected to highlight the vital role of employers to build a value network that aids students to directly connect with prospective job opportunities.

4. Skills measurement. In relation to creating momentum in online corporate learning, expect an intensified focus on determining better ways of assessing skills and measure individual progress, competency-based learning and the end result which is ROI. Measuring a skill set could be accomplished with just ten questions in less than two minutes based on an adaptive algorithm. This enables educators to give students a SAT-like score for any skill, which could provide the foundation for a new industry standard in terms of skills measurement. Other web education organizations have begun experimenting in this area.

5. Flipped-learning technology. A flipped class is a kind of blended learning wherein students will watch video lectures outside of class to learn about content online and perform homework in class with a teacher’s guidance. This helps in engaging students both outside and inside the classroom. Designers of online tools and video streaming that are centered on this approach should make it a priority to optimize them for interactivity.

With numerous technology options, combining educational and technology landscapes could be daunting for educators. The future technology trends in the education environment looks bright. Clearly, there is a lot more to come and remaining on top of the latest developments is paramount.